New Delhi: Customers can now walk in with their Aadhar card to get new mobile connections with instant activation, with the government clearing electronic-Know Your Customer (e-KYC) rules for using the biometric identification. Market leader Bharti Airtel is planning to rollout e-KYC authentication starting this week, while No. 2 Vodafone India and third-ranked Idea Cellular will follow suit in the coming weeks.

The Department of Telecommunications on Tuesday said after the successful completion of a proof of concept study to use Aadhaar e-KYC service, it has decided to launch it across all service areas including J&K, North East and Assam for issuance of mobile connections.

DoT said customers will be able to authorise online the Unique Identification Authority of India, which manages the Aadhaar database, to provide their demographic data along with digitally signed photograph to service providers.

“As per UIDAI, digitally signed electronic KYC data provided by UIDAI is machine readable, making it possible for the licensees to directly store it as the customer record in their database for purposes of issuing a mobile connection,” DoT said.

Telecom companies are allowed to appoint franchisees, agents, distributors or their own employees to provide the service to customers, it said. The telcos will be liable for the acts done by these intermediaries.

The top three telcos had partnered with the telecom department to pilot Aadhar based e-KYC solutions.

Gopal Vittal, CEO of India & South Asia at Bharti Airtel, said the Aadhaar-based eKYC “will contribute to the government's Digital India vision”.

Vodafone India CEO Sunil Sood said it will improve the quality of sales as well as regulatory compliance. “For the regulator, it not only means a green initiative but also hassle-free governance and accurate audit results,” he added.

The e-KYC solution is an instant, secure and green mobile subscriber verification project, where a customer’s Aadhar card and fingerprints are adequate for both validating and activating prepaid and postpaid connections.

E-KYC provides near instant verification of customers' identity and their address. Also, substantial cost reduction can be achieved through elimination of paper-based verification. For the consumer, instant activation means a better experience and security of confidential personal information.

According to a recent study, banks and telecom operators in India could save around Rs 10,000 crore over the next five years through Aadhaar-enabled e-KYC process.

Indian telecom service providers currently spend around Rs 145-175 on paper KYC for each connection, while the activation time is 1-2 days, the study showed.

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BSNL is yet to get the department of telecom (DoT) nod for commercially rolling out 4G services while the Narendra Modi-led government is eyeing to launch fifth-generation or 5G technology together with matured markets worldwide in 2020.